Online Brand Reputation Management: 5 Best Practices

Online Brand Reputation is in the eye of the beholder.

As the famous saying goes, the perception of both existing clients and possible leads will dictate the success of your brand’s online presence.

Now, we ask you, how’s your brand reputation management strategy?

Before you answer that, let’s look back in history and see the progression that reputation management had to go through. From ancient Iraq’s clay tablets that announced natural disasters to the Greeks and Romans’ appraisal system of determining trustworthiness among merchants, reputation management has long been used as a versatile tool for promoting and disseminating information. Sadly, it was also used as a means to defame business competitors.

Between then and now, reputation management (RM) has become a crucial ingredient to the growth of your business. It is the deciding factor on whether you have greater chances of succeeding in your respective niche or not. Either way, you have to learn the ropes and if you already do, then this should serve as your refresher.

Here are the five methods to strengthen your business management game!

The Five Commandments of RM: Dawn of PESO Branding and How it Helps your Rep

Before we dive into the juicy parts of this article, first we have to discuss what PESO exactly is. Not to be mistaken for the currency of the Filipino people, PESO in the context of overseeing a business’ image is an acronym introduced by Gini Dietrich of Spin Sucks. It is a method of marketing which means:

Paid

Earned

Shared

Owned

These four aspects of branding aid you to better plan your brand reputation management because they dictate the digital scope that you will be working with.

• Paid — It comes in the form of media that you purchase for your marketing plan. From various ads to the very content and channel that you choose for your marketing, they are an essential secret ingredient that assists you in your lead generation. They help increase your conversion rates just by having target audiences interact with content created on your scheduled posts.

• Earned — This is the type of media that grows your publicity. It is mainly exhibited by the connections you gain, particularly through link-building, and more commonly, word-of-mouth. Sharing content on stories or being mentioned in posts is also a form of earned media. The effect you have on the market is what you earned from your paid, owned, and shared media.

• Shared — The more recognizable your brand becomes to the public, the higher the probability that more people will share your content. The difference between shared and earned media is that collaboration plays an integral role. This is what you see when brand ambassadors post about your product or service to give you well-deserved recognition.

• Owned — These are the types of media that you have control over. You can generate your concepts, blogs, and content plan for social media. Your domain as a website is yours alone. The more channels you exist on, the greater exposure you would have for your brand, thereby increasing your influence.

The image above would aid you in refining the approaches below to complete your company brand reputation must-haves.

1. Keep A Watchful Eye

Monitor your progress as a brand.

What are people saying about you?

Where are you more prominent?

These are some of the necessary questions you have to ask to get a better view of your business and what you need to work on. Research is key in this stage. Make a mental note of giving special attention to the review section of your page if there is one. Once people gain first-hand experience of what you can offer, expect them to either have a positive, negative or even neutral reaction to your products and services. Customers are also given the opportunity to suggest additional services to add in your line of expertise.

Overall, you need to check on both good and bad reviews to improve your reputation as a whole.

2. Create Your Management Backbone

The backbone of any good reputation management is a clear and solid plan. Strategizing how to interact with both negative and positive reviews is crucial to the survival of your business. From assigning competent agents to handle customer issues to screening skilled individuals who will be creating and posting content, you have to be prepared for anything.

Also, make sure your process is well-established to fully fortify your  backbone. A small slip up is enough to cause a catastrophic blow to your public image. Ensure that everyone associated with you knows the appropriate replies and plans of action to take each time customers, potential leads, and even professional partners attempt to reach out to your company.

3. Use Rep Management Software

Some businesses, especially small-to-medium-sized ventures, need extra help to establish their reputation. They can benefit from software tailored to organize brand management data for them. Examples of this information include customer reviews and mentions in user-generated content such as Yext Reviews or ReviewTrackers. Other variations of rep management software offer features that track social media reviews and provide a single dashboard for easier regulation of customer feedback.

4. Process Standardization: No to Negatives | Yes to Positives

There has to be uniformity in handling negative and positive reviews to avoid misinterpretation and misbranding. Negative reactions are to be handled with compassion, intricacy, and empathy. Positives are to be handled with enthusiasm and humbleness. When issues are deescalated and compliments are received with a promise of consistency, your reputation is bound to get that well-deserved boost. After all, your target market is getting a whiff of professionalism about you, and it compels them to support you all the more.

5. Implementation and Consistency

The conclusion to these five commandments is consistency. When you execute your plan, you have to make sure that you can do it constantly and adapt to it well. It is inevitable to encounter dissatisfied customers or irate ones, but the key is to have the flexibility to change your plan as needed and implement. Aim to develop a plausible plan, or one that is filled with strategic and feasible steps to prevent further damage to your credibility.

Follow The Commandments and Thou Shall Have A Better Online Brand and Business Reputation

The bottom line, you have to constantly adapt to what your market wants and listen to them when it comes to bettering your brand.

Why?

They are the people who use your products and services. At the same time, you have to protect yourself and exude professionalism and knowledge. Moreover, it adds a human element to your company. Touch the hearts of your market and turn spectators into loyal customers. 

On that note, employing content monitoring, specifically in the form of image moderation services is sure to aid you in enriching your online business rep. Images or visual content are the norm in present-day digital marketing. Since you need striking and relevant images to boost the impact of your promotional content, it entails the need to monitor and regulate the graphical user-generated posts shared on your pages. It must be aligned with your established community guidelines. Don’t forget to procure your image moderation services today and ensure your PESO branding becomes stronger than ever.